


For the cause

by Inkera



Series: Whumptober [2]
Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Blood Loss, Day 10, Day 3, Gen, Whump, Whumptober 2020, forced to their knees, loss of limb
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-03
Updated: 2020-10-03
Packaged: 2021-03-08 04:15:27
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 920
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26789557
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Inkera/pseuds/Inkera
Summary: Whumptober Day 3 & 10 Prompt: Forced to their Knees / Blood LossPearl is a terror on the battlefield, as countless gems can attest. One day, she finally meets her match.-Tumblr: inkera0
Series: Whumptober [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1953496
Comments: 3
Kudos: 22
Collections: Whumptober 2020





	For the cause

**Author's Note:**

> tw: loss of limb, blood

The fight isn’t supposed to last this long. It’s supposed to be a diversion for the infiltration team - a quick in and out and gone before Homeworld’s forces realize they're there.

Until one of their scouts reports that their infiltration team has been completely obliterated. Another reports their escape route is blocked. After careful and meticulous planning, both of these scream of a spy in their ranks. Rose, Pearl, and Garnet will need to weed them out later, but for now…

With all of Homeworld’s attention suddenly on them, their forces steadily diminish. Those who are lucky enough not to be shattered recall to their gems to regenerate. This leaves the Crystal Gems with a third of their original numbers still in the fight.

Frantic cross-gem fusions begin to shift the tide in their favor, until new light constructs take back Homeworld’s lead in the fight, led by Hessonite. It’s odd that a leader, especially a Homeworld one, would risk herself in the front lines of battle amongst thousands of disposable quartzes.

But even stranger is the prism grasped in her palm that lights up with each new construct that manifests.

That could be the answer.

Pearl is light on her feet through the trees, skirting over fallen branches and twirling through the underbrush, sticking to the shadows along the edge of the fight. She’ll have to go to the source if they want to win this battle. If they want to survive.

And Hessonite is loud and flashy with her fighting style, sticking out like a sore thumb.

“Just give up already! You’re only delaying the inevitable,” Hessonite boasts, dissipating with a swing of her sword a Crystal Gem agate that gets too close. “It’s over for you rebels!”

Pearl circles around to her blind spot, cuts around a tree, and sidesteps a flurry of attacks between two quartzes. She weaves in and out, still unseen by the Homeworld gem.

“Enough playing around,” Hessonite orders the prism in her palm as Pearl closes in. “Just finish it.”

That’s when Pearl pulls a spear out of her gem and thrusts the tip at the prism, knocking it clear out of her hand where it tumbles to the mud below. “Not so fast!”

“What - !”

Taking advantage of her surprise, Pearl rears back for another strike, this time going straight for the center of mass.

Only for it to be parried by a saber.

“A pearl?!” Hessonite roars, taking another slash. Pearl jumps back and skids out of her reach. “How _dare_ you raise a weapon to a superior.”

Pearl circles, carefully watching for an opening. “I answer to no one.”

“You… Wait.” The leader scoffs, looks her enemy up and down with disgust. “I’ve heard of you. The Renegade.” She chuckles deep in her chest. “I see the stories are tragically over-exaggerated.”

“Be that as it may, I’m still going to stop you.”

“You and what army?” Hessonite comically gestures around. “Your forces are weakened, you’re horribly outnumbered, and your precious leader _Rose Quartz_ is nowhere to be seen!”

It’s true they were separated in the ambush and that every fiber of Pearl’s being aches to abandon everything and search the battlefield for her, but she reminds herself that Rose's - and the rebellion's - likelihood of survival depends on whether Hessonite goes down here and now.

Pearl points her spear with a scowl. “I don’t need anything more than this spear to take care of _you._ Your armies will follow suit!”

“I see you’ve deduced the prism’s power, but your weak bravado won’t be enough to save you.”

In the blink of an eye, Hessonite is gone from her vision.

Pearl’s mouth gapes open. “Wha-”

Unbearable pain blossoms in her arm holding the spear - or at least, where her arm _used_ to be. Now it’s on the muddied ground, and it takes Pearl a few seconds to process before a scream tears from her throat and she drops to her knees.

The urge to revert into her gem beckons like a siren - _please, take the pain away, she’ll do anything_ \- but she’s so close to ending all this, to seeing her friends - _Rose_ \- live just one more day. It’s enough for her to swallow back the need to poof but not enough to keep her from dry heaving at the sight of blue pooling beneath her.

“See, this is the difference between us.” Hessonite is at her side, calm even with the battle still raging around them. She tuts. “A mere pearl wouldn’t be able to defeat a _real_ gem. You’re way out of your depth, little one, and it must’ve been painful trying to be something you’re not. But no matter; now you’re on your knees where you belong.”

Hessonite grabs a fistful of Pearl’s hair, and the smaller gem is helpless in her agony, forced to watch Hessonite draw her sword back for a final strike aimed at the center of her forehead.

“Time to put you out of your misery.”

Pearl squeezes her eyes tight. _Rose… I’m sorry…_

“Pearl!”

Blades clash, and Pearl’s feet are swept off the ground, her form huddled close to a warm chest. Pink floods her blurry vision through the cracks in her heavy eyelids. The figure embracing her deftly darts this way and that in a flurry of blows, until finally Hessonite lets out a scream of wild frustration just before the telltale sound of a form dissipating.

Just before the darkness takes her, Pearl finds comfort in a familiar voice.

“I’ve got you.”


End file.
